What Does 1 John 4:21 Mean in the King James?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
One verb governs both loves, so devotion to God cannot be separate from love of your brother.
THE MEANING
The love you direct toward God takes visible form in how you love your brother. The verse binds the unseen and the seen together as one expression of love.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that love for God can remain genuine while hatred or neglect of your brother is treated as unrelated.
THE ROOT
ἀγαπῶν
agapōn
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ- (from ἀγαπάω, agapaō)
To love or cherish; this Greek word family uses a verbal stem, rather than a three-consonant Hebrew root.
“loveth / love” in this verse is agapōn. The same Greek verb family appears for the one loving God and for the command to love a brother. The repeated word binds these relationships into one expression of love.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: Love; the noun in the same Greek word family.
ἀγάπη
The noun names the love that the verse expresses through the same verb toward God and brother.
agapētos: Beloved, dear; from the same Greek word family.
ἀγαπητός
This branch shows the same family describing a person as beloved, linking love as an action with the relation it creates.
THE PATTERN
Love for God becomes visible in love extended to another person.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?THE THREAD
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?The same Greek verb for love appears toward God and toward the brother in both verses. This verse states the command; the connected verse exposes the contradiction when the two loves are separated.
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